Game Of Thrones, season four, episode four, Oathkeeper – the White Walkers are back and terrifying as ever

Game of Thrones’ fourth episode creaked under the weight of heavy exposition and repositioning of several characters, but maintained its ability to deliver a final punch which provides that all-important ‘water-cooler moment’.

The White Walkers are back, accepting the sacrifice of Craster’s last child and turning him into one of their own. If their threat was diminished somewhat by Sam’s fortuitous slaying last series, they’re re-established here as terrifying.

Let’s hear it for the girls

Cersei wants revenge on Sansa(Picture: HBO)

Equally terrifying are the ladies of Westeros (and beyond).

Cersei reminds us that she’s never more scary than when she’s on the wine, lashing out not only at Tyrion and Sansa, on whom she seeks vengeful retribution, but at Jaime too. Their cool formality towards each other (‘Your Grace’/’Lord Commander’) suggests their incestuous relationship is firmly in the past.

Olenna leaves King’s Landing, but not before she advises her Margaery to employ her feminine wiles on Tommen before Cersei turns him against her. The adolescent king is soon in her thrall, his hormones overriding any concern raised by the fate of her two previous husbands.

After Meereen’s slaves overthrow their masters, Daenerys enacts her own brand of justice by nailing one of them to a cross for every slave they nailed to a milepost.

Only Sansa continues to have a tough time, as Littlefinger reveals he orchestrated Joffrey’s murder, with Olenna admitting she was also involved.

Making and breaking bonds

Brienne is given a mission by Jaime (Picture: HBO)

At Bronn’s behest, Jaime reconnects with Tyrion and we’re reminded of the brothers’ closeness. Alliser Thorne, threatened by Jon’s popularity among the Night’s Watch, sends him on a suicide mission to Craster’s Keep against the traitors led by the sadistic Karl Tanner. Among the volunteers who choose – Dead Poets’ Society style – to go with him is new recruit is Locke, one of Roose Bolton’s most trusted men.

Jaime keeps his vow to Catelyn Stark by tasking Brienne with finding and protecting Sansa, giving her his sword, new armour and Pod as a squire. It looks like the end for one of the series’ most unlikely yet endearing friendships, as the departing Brienne comes as close as she ever will to admitting she loves Jaime.

Bran and his party stumble upon Craster’s Keep and are captured by Tanner’s men. Will he be reunited with Jon after all, having previously refused Sam’s offer to take him to Castle Black?

Now departing …

Jon Snow is sent to Craster Keep (Picture: HBO)

We’re starting to see an increasing divergence between the TV series and the original novels. For instance Vargo Hoat, the equivalent of Locke’s character, never comes to Castle Black in the books. It’s evident the writers are juggling to keep the central storylines aligned without ignoring key characters for too long, resulting in a degree of artistic licence with the source material.

Ultimately this should make little difference to non-book reading viewers. What it does mean is that we will get the occasional exposition-heavy episode to condense huge swathes of the original text to knit together events between major set-pieces.

Oathkeeper is consequently a noticeably talky episode which lacks the pace of the first three episodes. Nevertheless the return of the White Walkers reminds us that there is more at stake here than the political machinations in King’s Landing and Dany’s seemingly endless march towards her date with destiny. There’s more bloodshed and misery to come.

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